Man convicted in deaths of 'American Sniper' author, friend

[webfact]

Man convicted in deaths of 'American Sniper' author, friend
JOHN L. MONE, Associated Press

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Marine has been convicted in the deaths of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and Kyle's friend at a shooting range.

Jurors returned the verdict Tuesday against Eddie Ray Routh, whose attorneys had mounted an insanity defense and said he suffered from psychosis. Since prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty in the capital murder case, the 27-year-old receives an automatic life sentence without parole in the deaths of the famed Navy SEAL and Chad Littlefield.

The men had taken Routh out shooting in February 2013 after Routh's mother asked Kyle to help him. Family members say Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and in Haiti.

The case drew intense interest, largely because of the blockbuster film based on Kyle's memoir about his four Iraq tours.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-02-25

[pkspeaker]

I don't understand taking this guy 'shooting' because he suffers from PTSD as a result of being in the military.. Didn't Kyle and friend get enough shooting during their day job, they tell this guy oh you have PTSD so we're taking you shooting, sounds fishy, I can see the perpetrator getting paranoid and thinking that was a frag, maybe he had argued with Kyle and he thought he and his friend were conspiring to off him ; Kyle appeared to be very confrontational and this incident was mostly the result of his poor judgement. shooting for ptsd-makes no sense. I would have found him not guilty.

[pacovl46]

I'd love to know why exactly he shot Kyle and his friend.

[Scott]

Off-topic, inflammatory, troll posts and replies removed.

[spidermike007]

Sweet. Glad he got life. Hope he makes some nice "friends" in prison, who watch his "backside". He deserves that much. Insanity? More like stupid crazy. Kyle had enough on his plate, and did not deserve this. Neither did his family.

[Chicog]

I have my concerns that this turned into a bit of a kangaroo court after all the hysteria generated by the movie.

Hopefully the appeal judges get to see the evidence the judge disallowed, such as the psychologist who would have testified that Routh was a paranoid schizophrenic with the symptoms of PTSD.

I'm not saying he isn't guilty, but I don't think he got a fair trial.

[chuckd]

I have my concerns that this turned into a bit of a kangaroo court after all the hysteria generated by the movie.

Hopefully the appeal judges get to see the evidence the judge disallowed, such as the psychologist who would have testified that Routh was a paranoid schizophrenic with the symptoms of PTSD.

I'm not saying he isn't guilty, but I don't think he got a fair trial.

And on what do you base our opinion?

I watched a CNN interview with two of the jurors. They were both well spoken, seemingly well educated and freely discussed the process.

In the State of Texas, an insanity plea must prove that the defendant did not know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the murders, Routh admitted what he did was wrong by some of the actions he took after the shooting and in some of his admissions.

I was impressed with their decision.